Living in the US, I got the chance to actually drive these Skippys in Florida. I did a 3 day racing school in Sebring, and then took part in the Karting Shootout, going for the $35,000 grand prize. I didn’t get the prize because of several mechanical issues (I had a misfiring engine in one session and an electrical problem in another), but I did get an F2000 test and am working out a deal for a seat in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge next year!

Anyway, having that experience, I can say that the Skippys are incredibly accurate. I trained quite a lot before the event in the car at Sebring, and can honestly say that it helped me a lot. I may not have won, but I did lead a session and had the second fastest time of the event, and I put that down to all the sim racing I’ve done. A lot of people don’t understand just how much sim racing helps with racing in real life, but I really do believe that it was because I’ve been racing online for years now, that when I finally did get into a real car, it all felt natural. And of all the sims, iRacing is the most accurate for me.

Nice! Grab your chance with both hands. Lots of people have gotten into real life racing from sim-racing.. the one that always springs to mind for me is Norbert Michelisz, who is now a race winner in WTCC; he started in GPL and got to -80 on GPLrank. Gabor Weber (early GPL alien) also did similar and I think might have helped him do the same as he did (GPL to WTCC via SEAT Hungarian touring cars). There are also the guys from GT Academy, one winner (Heitkotter) being an iRacing Pro driver at the time (WDC nowadays).

We have the prospect of the first sim-racing competing drivers (i.e. anyone can race them online) joining F1 soon – Stoffel Vandoorne’s YouTube shows him being successful in FSR – Formula Sim Racing, basically F1 in an online setup, alongside his karting successes, while Richie Stanaway got close in FR3.5 (and winning races in GP3 etc.) before his back injury. While recovering from that he won the iRacing Pro series. There are also names from top level European Motorsports on iRacing, I’ve seen Tom Dillmann online, and there’s always the fabled Lewis Hamilton account.. Also the big annual pros race is in 2 weeks (some big NASCAR guys are usually in that, along with other international racers). Dale Jr is still ranked as the best oval driver in iRacing, despite having given it up to concentrate on being successful in NASCAR once more.

Lotus cracked me up with their April fools joke of a sim-racing F1 championship ran with the actual drivers/in sims.. actually I thought that one was possible!

@george I should pop on a bit more and join :) Always massive fields in the UKI Skippy!

Ah, that sucks. But you are just in time for the Black Friday sale (not sure what’s on offer but usually something like half-price memberships for $49).. you could effectively get two years out of one for that $99 should you wish to try again. It is challenging and that’s why I’m not on as much as I used to either! Losing a few clear cut wins with bad mistakes (e.g. distracted by voice chat) also sapped my motivation. Next time they release a build (2 months?) I’m tempted to get Bathurst in a 3 item bundle (10% off).

Any recommendations on what to buy then? Literally all I’ve ever used this game as is a Mazda MX-5 at Lime Rock/Okayama simulator. I’ve won… 3 races, I think? I’m not so interested in the single seater side of things, they’re just way beyond my level. GT and/or Touring cars is more my thing.

@ajokay I’m not sure how it’d go if you cant put in the practice. I take it pretty seriously and get enjoyment from achieving the best I can, but if you’re looking to drop in and race I can see why you’d struggle.

If you do re-sub then I wouldn’t be too scared off by the single seaters, personally I find them easier than the tin tops. As you’ll probably be looking for a D-class series there are basically 4 choices:
GT:
– Carry on driving the MX5 in grand touring cup
– Mustang cup
Single Seater:
– Spec Racer Ford
– Skip Barber

Obviously two of those are free content (I dont think you need to buy the Jetta for GT cup any more, although I might be wrong), so I’d suggest practising with those and seeing which you like more, then joining the official series once you’re up to speed. Iracing doesn’t really make sense until you commit to a championship and race the same guys every week for points.

Yeah despite being able to race a lot of other cars, Skippy is always the one I come back to first to race! Great close racing, not too powerful, newest tyre model… there’s always something to like about the Skippy! Simple to set up… Always a good few tracks on the schedule.

Sounds like the GT route is the one for you @ajokay. Perhaps now just to buy some tracks which are well used in the D schedule, that are also used higher up (for convenience of not having to buy further tracks each time too much), and that you think you will enjoy to drive. Jetta could well be free now, can’t remember either. I think there is the Mazda, Jetta and Solstice in the D: GT Cup, with another one for Mustangs as well (don’t think I have the Mustang). Spec Racer Ford is a bit more racy than the Skippy (which is the training car from the driving school here and not the USF2000 version), with the rear usually looser, but the Skippy is a good intro car to single seaters in general to see if you like it or not. One of the most popular series on the sim I think. There’s a thread with participation numbers if that helps you decide where to go too. Maybe you have an in-cling of what tracks/cars you’d like, but it can always be handy to find information in the forum or see some YouTube videos to help decide. Reductions are for 3 items (10%) or 6 items (20%). Owning all items gets 25% off each new thing.

On the GT side, I do have the McLaren and it is enjoyable to drive, being one of the newer cars on the service, as each time the team seems to get better. HPD was an interesting drive, I think they want to redo it (or may have done already), so if you like Le Mans that could be a direction you could aim for. Radical is always an enjoyable car to muscle around the track, and I think it has a little community around it. It’s quite mechanical and with a smidgeon of aero. Can’t remember the licences but I think Radical is C, McLaren then HPD on B. Never got round to trying the Daytona Prototype or Ford GT, so if US racing is more your style there are ones there to check out as well. I think they’ve tried to cover USA and EU in equal measure. BTCC Honda Civic should be coming along sometime in the future too!

Congrats @malthe92! Yes, I think I remember you were always very competitive @george in the Skippy!

@joey-poey@fastiesty@polishboy808
I had a pretty cracking race today in the skippy, here’s the broadcast. Still a bit miffed about the last lap, Jon was slower than me in the penultimate corner and caught me out there two laps running. Really fun race though, it makes a change not to have a drs-style draft battle in this car.

Well, one thing I’m up to that I can’t believe I didn’t think to mention until now was I’m in the iracing video contest. I’m on my iPad at the moment so getting a link is a little difficult. Lemme nab one and get back here. I’m about 100 votes behind so it’s a long shot with one day left.